Manushi Chhillar addresses 30-year age gap between her and Akshay Kumar: “Working with a superstar is good and that you will get a certain amount of visibility”

“I hope I get to romance younger heroes as well and vice-versa also it happens,” she said.

April 22, 2024 - 9:58 AM IST

Manushi Chhillar, the winner of the Miss World title in 2017, made her Bollywood debut in the film Samrat Prithviraj opposite Akshay Kumar, who is nearly 30 years her senior. Unfortunately, the film was met with poor reception. Years later, at 26, Chhillar once again shared the screen with the 56-year-old actor in the recently released action film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (BMCM). Despite being made on a massive budget and featuring exotic locations, the film failed to impress audiences and make its mark at the box office.

Manushi Chhillar addresses 30-year age gap between her and Akshay Kumar: “Working with a superstar is good and that you will get a certain amount of visibility”

In a recent interview with Zoom, Chhillar addressed the 30-year age gap debate surrounding her casting opposite older stars like Akshay Kumar. She asserted that she doesn’t mind being paired with older actors, as it would only help her garner attention. She said, “There are many facets to this. I can only speak for myself. He (Akshay) is a superstar. Many want to work with him, I want to work with him. We are all fans but I don’t cast for films and there are people who do (that). I am sure that everyone has their reason why they are casting who for which role and I don’t interfere with that.”

She added, “I see what role is being given to me and for me, working with a superstar is good and that you will get a certain amount of visibility and there will be a certain amount of attention attached to it as well,” she added.

Manushi clarified that there wasn’t a romantic pairing in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. She said, “I have really had fun working with him (Akshay). And for my first film, there was an age gap and they wanted to play the whole thing. In this (BMCM), there was no pairing. And it is also fine and I don’t see it as something atrocious or something which shouldn’t have been there.”

She added, “We did songs for marketing. So they had to put two people together for the songs, but that’s pretty much it, which is fine. It wasn’t like a love story anyway.”

“I hope I get to romance younger heroes as well and vice-versa also it happens,” she said.

Meanwhile, Manushi Chhillar will next star in John Abraham starrer Tehran. She was most recently seen in Operation Valentine with Varun Tej.